Darkness of Orre
by Misaki Amaya
Summary: Wes never wanted to be the good guy. His entire life, he'd been anything but that. In blowing up his own evil organisation and trekking out into the dangerous, ruffian region of Orre, he forms and unlikely partnership and begins to uncover the good in the world - and in himself. Ongoing rewrite of "Pokemon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre". Eventual Colosseumshipping.
1. Chapter 1

**Darkness of Orre**

**-.-.-**

**Chapter 1: Restriction for One, Freedom for Another**

-.-.-

Rui could never say she really liked the Orre Region.

It wasn't that the place was known for only bad things. When she came back from trips there, people of her hometown acted like she was some sort of disgrace. She couldn't blame them; when she went there, she could never say she was truly safe. A surprisingly clean girl walking through a town full of thugs was obviously not an everyday occurrence in such a place. So she usually kept her head down, hands in pockets, eyes planted towards the ground as she ignored the snarky mutters of everyone around her. When she went to the Orre Region, it was almost like she was some sort of abomination.

But that wasn't the reason why she didn't like the region itself.

Usually, it was the way her mother told her to go. Her calm eyes said it like it was a good thing. But Rui knew she would miss those calm eyes as soon as she stepped onto the plane. The reason she disliked the Orre Region so much wasn't because of the thugs or the danger or the general madness. It wasn't even the unsettling amount of wanted posters on the wall or the way people smirked devilishly at her when she looked at them. Instead, it was the fact that she felt out of place.

When she stepped off the plane in Pyrite Town for what had been one time too many, she instantly felt people grimacing at her for her clean clothes and neat hair which fell lightly to her shoulders, pin-straight and unlike anything most of them had probably ever seen.

Another unnerving factor was the fact that, every single time she arrived, she had to make her way alone through the most dangerous town in the most dangerous region. She struggled to blink as she walked, boots already covered in a thin layer of dirt and eyes pinned firmly ahead as to not cause any unwanted eye-contact. This time, she didn't have pockets, so her fingers toyed at the hem of her skirt, fidgeting constantly seeking something to do with themselves.

Her mind was, surprisingly, not stuck on self-defence mechanisms or ways of avoiding having to use those mechanisms in the first place, but instead on how she could fit in. Because if she fit in just that tiny bit more, maybe people wouldn't look at her like she was alien. Most people had spiky up-does; Mohawks, weird gelled hairstyles that Rui could not have pulled off even if she tried. Many guys had shaved heads or Rattata-tails that were filled with grease and grime. Rui didn't own gel; she never had, and would have preferred to never have to, and she was beginning to think she'd have to break that promise to herself. Instead, however, she found her hands winding around her hair as she tied it into two pigtails on top of her head.

When she was finished, she stopped to admire herself in a puddle full of Arceus-knows what, but it definitely was not water. She placed her hands on her hips, smiling to herself in satisfaction. It wasn't unnatural, and it didn't take a freakish amount of gel, but it was at least spiky.

But when she looked up, she saw the exact opposite of what she wanted to see.

She'd never known Pokémon to attack humans. It wasn't a thing they were trained to do. Even the evilest, most horrible people never instructed their Pokémon to attack people unnecessarily. Apparently, this person was worse than the worst.

He was instructing what looked to be a fighting type – short and stocky, with mustard coloured skin and completely blank eyes. But that wasn't the weird thing about it. The Pokémon – whatever species it may have been, Rui wasn't sure – was surrounded in a completely black aura. And when she made eye contact with the trainer, her entire world crashed beneath her.

The man was a few metres away from her, smirking devilishly, maybe a head or so taller than her. His fiery orange Mohawk was brightened to look like fire in the sun, making him look more thuggish than he already did. Rui gulped, taking a step back while making a point to not step in the puddle. She could feel her eyes darkening, her eyelids drooping in fear. Any normal person would walk away, but according to that theory, Rui was anything but normal.

The subconscious decision to not walk away was, what she thought, anyone's reaction. And the man didn't cause it. Actually, the man himself wasn't at all intimidating compared to what stood behind him.

The shadowed Pokémon stood at his feet, glaring at her. But… he wasn't glaring. He was staring, completely blank-faced, no hint of aggression or annoyance. It just stood, gloved hands clenched at its sides and eyebrows slanted like any of that species naturally would. The Pokémon itself, however, was still not the reason her feet were rooted to the spot. Instead, she was focusing on the aura. Light made of darkness, tiny balls flittering around in the murky shadows like little winged bugs. The aura was like black fire, burning around the Pokémon and sucking up all of its emotion. That was the next sickening thing; the Pokémon was void of any emotion.

As the Pokémon's supposed trainer held up his hand to make it attack, the Fighting-type should have held aggression. Of course, it wasn't normal for Pokémon to attack humans. It never had been, even in a region such as Orre. So any pokémon forced to do so would have undoubtedly been slightly angry.

This Pokémon wasn't, just emotionless, its blank face hiding behind its fist, which was headed straight towards a quivering Rui.

As she was smacked against the wall, an ear-piercing scream echoed throughout Pyrite Town. Then, there was silence.

No one tried to help.

-.-.-

Wes still wasn't really sure why he was a criminal.

The organisation he worked for wasn't the stereotypical team of goons. Not like Orre was the only region that had a criminal organisation, but this one was the reason why Orre had such a bad name.

Most regions had criminals that raged war in strange outfits, like capes or hoods, and, despite their criminal status, didn't usually resort to too much violence when it came to doing what they wanted. That was where Team Snagem differed from them.

In fact, Wes knew that Team Snagem revolved around violence. Without violence, they would be nothing. What was the point in having an army of robot-like Pokémon if you didn't use them to attack people? That was the way his boss thought, and there was a time when he thought like that, too.

Now was not that time. Now, Wes hated the Snagems. He wanted them gone at all cost. And if that meant eradicating them entirely, structures and all, then so be it.

So now, he was taking the biggest risk of his life.

Next to him, the shadow of his Umbreon stood, yellow eyes squinted in the heated desert sunlight, bushy tail flicking back and forth as he stood guard in front of his trainer. The wall in front of Wes was thick, but a small crack grazed down the side that he assumed the Umbreon – Nova – could blow through. That assumption was what made his teeth grit. If his plan worked, he'd be fired, only he would not be there to see himself get fired. That prospect seemed decent enough.

If he failed, he'd be fired anyway, only he'd find it much harder to make a getaway without all of his limbs attached and his Pokémon in tow.

He glanced around, different shades of brown clouding his vision. His hazel eyes, like Nova's, were squinted and determined. Pacing in and out of the hideout that he hoped wouldn't be standing for too much longer were numerous Team Snagem grunts, the lowest of the low in terms of the workers. They walked with their backs slouched and their faces looking naturally grumpy. That was what this place had done to them; sucked the life force out of them and, at the same time, treated them like robots as much as they treated the Pokémon they commanded.

"Scree!"

The screech came from above him. Looking up, he shielded his eyes from the sun to see better. The flapping of wings followed the cry, and soon enough a giant grey bird was flying overhead, the feathers on its wings encased in steel. It seemed almost unrealistic that such a creature could actually take flight, but Wes knew that wasn't important. That Skarmory was, for the most part, a sign that the boss was out of the hideout. He'd been targeting that Pokémon for almost a year now, and now that it had finally been captured, it liked to show off of the mornings and stretch its wings. Very few Pokémon of Gonzap's possession got to do this.

For Wes, the Skarmory was a sign of his own freedom. Well, what was about to be his own freedom. He turned his head, seeing the Snagem grunts watching the Skarmory, their attention focused on nothing but the bird. This was a good sign; they'd certainly notice the explosion, but it may take them awhile to get their heads around it.

Twisting a piece of spiky, dirty-blond hair between his fingers, Wes turned to Nova and gestured to the wall. "Nova, Secret Power."

Parting its feet, the dark-type obeyed. One-by-one, the golden rings around Nova's forehead, tail and legs lit up, displaying a yellow light that made rays that looked like sunlight pierce through the air.

The earth began to shake, silently and only slightly at first, only enough to cause a few grains of sand to be disturbed from their previous positions. The shaking made Wes' feet sink into the ground, and he steadied himself on the part of the wall that hopefully would not be blown through.

It took a few seconds for the unpredictable attack to power up. When it did power up, though, Wes was almost thrown back from the force. From around him, Nova began picking up the shaking grains of sand. Little-by-little, they formed together, until they almost seemed like one big, solid mass, no longer transparent but instead a swirling tornado of sand. He turned his head to Nova, whose eyes were glowing brighter than ever, though now they were so concentrative that they almost seemed demonic. Paws sinking into the ground from the shaking, the Pokémon barked forcefully and directed the sand-tornado towards the wall.

The sand hit the stone wall, swirling around with forceful power that Wes had never seen Nova pull off. As it did so, the wall began to wear down down, the debris flying into the air and filling it with enough dust to almost seem like a mist. Upon feeling one of the grains hit his eye, Wes hissed and pulled his goggles off of his head and onto his eyes, the sand in the air increasing in seconds.

The form of Nova was now a black silhouette lurking beneath the clouds of dust. As the attack faded, the form got darker and more solid, until the Umbreon stood, panting, the circles around his body darkened and his eyes squinted in the same determined way. Wes turned to him, nodding determinedly and beginning to make his way into the room.

Around him, the surprised yells of the grunts were beginning to sound, rising more and more until he heard footsteps around him.

"What the hell?"

"The boss! We have to tell the boss!"

Wes ignored them, instead focusing on the machine that he'd desired to hold in his hands for so long.

He'd worn the Snag Machine before. Actually, it was something he put on every day. But he didn't own it. Instead, the device sat on its stand in that very room day-by-day until the boss instructed someone to put it on. Such an amazing machine, in the hands that Wes disapproved of only as of yesterday.

Still, as his own fingertips touched the cold metal, encased in a thin layer of dust from the explosion, he was skeptical of whether or not be in the right hands with him, either. He wasn't even sure what he'd do with it; he just wanted it. Perhaps selfishly, perhaps not. He'd find that out later.

Now was not a time to reconsider his actions, though. Ripping the Snag Machine from its stand, he held it under his arm and turned around. Nova stood at the hole, teeth bared and eyes beckoning Wes to hurry up.

He had no time to put the Snag Machine on his arm; that would have to wait. For now, he had to get away from this place.

Bolting out of the room, he tore across the sand as fast as his feet would carry him. Pieces of grit rubbed his arms, and his goggles were dusty and chipped so that he could hardly see, but he still knew that, behind him, someone would be giving chase.

It was then that he heard footsteps behind him. Heavy and clunky - they could have only belonged to one person: Gonzap.

But before he could knock Wes to the ground, a second Pokémon leapt off of her previous station on the bike in which she sat, amethyst eyes glowing with fury and teeth gritted tightly. Wes skidded to a halt to view the scene. As he whirled around in his heels, he whipped his hand out in front of him and pointed aggressively to the man.

"Sina, use Confusion!"

The Espeon before him was nothing but a lilac blur as she leaped into the air, her thin body only just dodging the punch that had been thrown at her. The boss stumbled, his thick upper body unable to be held by his legs, and this was just enough time to allow Sina to send a forceful wave of psychic energy towards him.

As the boss became lined in blue light, he struggled and writhed under the pressure, teeth gritted to stop him from screaming. Wes smirked confidently.

"Throw him," he said simply, squinting his eyes in satisfaction.

Shock waves were sent through Gonzap's body, and he was thrown back aggressively by a powerfully determined Sina. The Espeon, once the deed was done, turned back towards Wes and Umbreon and barked hastily, though Wes wasn't sure why until it was too late.

Though he'd heard the Skarmory before, he'd completely forgotten about it. Until now. The boss's skarmory was as heavy as any steel-clad bird would be. But that seemed emphasized when Wes was stuck lying face-down on the sand, the bird's talons digging aggressively into his skin. He could feel the anger coming from the bird – he'd hurt his master, so she would hurt him.

But just as the bird readied a steel-wing attack, perfectly ready to slice Wes in half, Nova leapt from behind with a powerful Bite attack and clamped his teeth down upon the Steel-type. This didn't hurt her as much as it just threw her off balance, but that was all Nova needed. The Umbreon rushed towards his trainer as soon as he was free, nuzzling him on the arm and urging him to get up. Despite the pain in his back, Wes did just that, just in time to see Sina launching a Return on Skarmory.

After the attack, she took the time while her opponent was stunned – much less than hurt – to dodge nimbly past and bolt towards Wes' bike. Nova did the same, the two darting quickly into the sidecar in front of Wes, who quickly leapt onto the seat and revved the engine. He didn't own it. He'd never even used it, but he'd taken enough today to the point where the vehicle was almost insignificant among the other things.

"Hang on," he muttered to himself as he quickly skidded the bike to a half before it could barely start up. "We can't leave the place that in tact. Nova, let's have another Secret Power, this time on the cliff face."

With the Snag Machine nestled at the bottom of the sidecar, he sped away, well aware of Gonzap chasing behind him. Both of them knew he would never catch up, and for now, the former boss was no longer a problem. The building was gone; Nova had forced the cliffs to crumble, using most of his energy, and a rock had his the control room. The explosion was massive; the entire building blowing up in smoke, creating a pillar that floated up into the air. Wes could hear the rubble hitting the ground over his thoughts, but he could still hear himself speak.

"Not this time, Gonzap."

He smirked as he leant forward further, his victory sealed as he slipped through into the narrow cliffs of Eclo Canyon.

-.-.-

Maneuvering through countless canyons filled with thin, rocky pathways and rough sand that wasn't hard to sink into wasn't exactly the easiest thing. Luckily, Wes' bike was built for this sort of thing, and it didn't take him as long as he'd assumed it would in order to reach his destination.

For quite awhile, he could still hear the faint yells of Team Snagem as they fought to escape before the police arrived. It wasn't too hard to find them. The desert surrounding the hideout wasn't nearly enough to mask the sound of the explosion. Wes assumed it could be heard from miles away, and even if it couldn't, there was a tall pillar of smoke making its way through the sky that would surely raise question. He'd already noticed multiple news and police helicopters making their way to the scene, and it made him rather satisfied knowing that he'd caused it.

The sun was setting when he finally found himself out of the canyons. Now, ahead of him, lay nothing but desert - a straight road for him to make up as he went. All he really needed to do was drive straight until he saw civilisation, whenever that may be. From now on, he was alone.

However long he would be driving for, he wasn't sure. The sky was gradually getting paler and paler as it gave into the night, and he was beginning to grow drowsy. If nothing came into sight soon, he'd have to think about giving it up for the night and instead lying down to sleep where he was. That wasn't necessarily a good thing; though it would be nice to sleep somewhere other than the hideout, Orre was usually cold at night despite the heated days.

After another half-hour or so of driving, however, he saw something in the distance that sparked his interest. Squinting through his scratched goggles, he looked ahead to make out a relatively large, beat-up hover car driving towards a small, rusty-coloured mound in the distance.

Floating along for a little longer, the hover car pulled to a halt in front of the mound, and Wes realised that it wasn't just darker sand. Standing ahead of him was a train; run down and looking like it was about to collapse, but it seemed to be open for the public. He'd heard of this place, where travellers rested up after days of journeying through the harsh deserts of Orre, and it was apparently rather convenient.

"May as well stop there for the night," he said, before turning to face his two Pokémon. "What do you guys think?"

Nova, who was sitting upright in the sidecar, glanced at Wes and nodded quickly, before turning his gaze back in front of him. His ears twitched in the wind as he did so, flying back behind his head and showing off how alert his eyes were. It wasn't like this was an unusual case; Nova very rarely zoned out, even when it was time to sleep, and he was usually always looking for danger, assuming the worst out of every situation.

Sina, on the other hand, merely yawned in response and nuzzled into the floor of the car more. At Nova's paws, she lay, curled-up in an uncomfortable looking ball. Her long, elegant tail was wrapped around her body, and occasionally flicked around in the wind. Nova shot a disgruntled look at her, before looking ahead again.

Wes smiled. "I'll take that as a yes."

It wasn't long before Wes pulled his bike to a halt in front of the Outskirt Stand. The train carriage, unsurprisingly, was even more run-down than he'd previously thought. Though it had seemed appealing while driving through endless stretches of desert, Wes was beginning to wonder whether or not it was a good idea bunking here for the night.

The wall of the train was covered in graffiti, almost entirely, so that the wall could barely be seen other than small paint-less patches that looked rather out of place compared to the colour. The windows could barely be called windows; the areas where the glass used to be were cracked and, in some places, missing entirely. Wes had to wonder how many fights had broken out inside the train before the owners (if there were any) had given up and stopped replacing the glass.

Still, he was there now, and he didn't really have to stay for more than a night.

Beside him, the car that he'd seen before was lying limp on the ground, no longer hovering and looking quite useless. Though it hadn't looked like it from afar, it was probably the cleanest thing in the area. Out of the few vehicles that were parked around the train, Wes's was probably the dirtiest, but he didn't really mind. That was the price he paid for stealing the first one he saw from the hideout in his attempt to escape.

When he entered the train, the ramp that led to the door creaked under his weight. It felt thin underneath his boots and he found himself gripping the railings in order to hold himself up. The ramp seemed critically unstable, though Wes knew that hoping for it to be fixed anytime soon was stupid.

As he slid open the door, it made a rough creaking sound that made him flinch, but that was nothing compared to the large amount of muttering inside of the train. Stepping inside, he saw around a dozen people sitting on couches, most of them with drinks or large, grimy plates of food in front of them. Some of them, Wes noticed when he tuned his ears in, were talking about ruthless travel tails and stories of them being stuck out in the desert. If Wes hadn't just blown up a building, he would have accused them of lying, but any heroic deed right now seemed perfectly plausible.

A beefy man behind the counter at the front of the train turned to him and placed his fist - which was almost the size of Wes's head - on the table. "Can I get you a drink, Sir?"

The fact that he'd called Wes "Sir" was extremely unexpected. Wes eyed him suspiciously for a moment before shaking his head slowly. "No, thanks. Not really in the mood for anything at the moment.

The man laughed heartily, turning around and beginning to clean glass mugs with a rag that looked dirtier than any of the items it was "cleaning". "I understand. Place doesn't offer much. Aren't you a little young to be travelling Orre?"

Wes sat down on a stool in front of the counter and shrugged. "I'm seventeen," he said, glancing around at his surroundings. On the wall was a cracked television, one that seemed far too luxurious for such a place. He wondered if it even worked. This didn't look like a place to have good electrical circuits. The lights hanging from the roof were flickering nervously while being knocked around by the shaking of the train, which appeared to be caused by the large generator in the corner, though Wes wasn't sure how much electricity it would provide, as it seemed old and was dented or chipped in places.

"I've met plenty of travellers in my day, but most of them have passed their teen years." The bartender paused and took a sip from a small glass on the counter, filled with a strange looking orange liquid. "Dangerous place, Orre."

"My Pokémon are capable." Wes gestured behind him to Nova and Sina, both of which were staring uncertainly at the goings-on on where they were staying. "Besides, I'm not one to be knocked around." He'd mention certain other things, but telling a stranger that his Umbreon had just blown up a building didn't seem appropriate at the time.

"Well, that's fair enough." The bartender paused, looking around at all of his customers. "Nice to have a decent conversation here. Don't really get too many because of, well…" He gestured around him. "I mean, there have been plenty of amazing stories in the past, but I'll bet you about ninety-nine out of one-hundred are absolute barnacles."

"I can imagine."

At that point, the television on the wall flickered on, and the entire train fell silent. Wes, too, turned his attention to the clean-looking newsreader on the screen, who waited a few seconds for the news jingle to die down before beginning to speak.

"Reports have just risen that a strange building has exploded in Eclo Canyon. Upon further investigation, police were able to discover that it was Team Snagem's hideout."

The silence around the train seemed to stiffen, though a few mutters arose from the crowd. Wes couldn't help but smirk. They seemed to be asking themselves questions. "Who did it? Why did they do it?" If only they knew that the person who'd done it was in the same room as them.

"Police are unsure of what caused the explosion, but a strangely-shaped hole in one of the walls and the evidence of unnaturally falling rocks suggests that pokémon were involved."

Nova flicked his tail, his ear twitching. He stood up a little prouder and turned his nose up into the air.

"Upon discovering the building, police say that they were unable to arrest any members, and the hideout had long since been abandoned. Stay tuned for further reports on the matter."

As the news jingle played again, the people in the train erupted into conversation, the sounds of the television entirely drowned out by the noise. People didn't exactly seem unhappy about it. Actually, most of them seemed to be celebrating. One of the men, who Wes assumed had had a little too much to drink, leapt up onto one of the couches and threw a fist into the air, yelling, "Down with Team Snagem!"

"Oi, get off the couch, mate!" This yell came from the bartender, who leapt over the counter and rushed over to deal with the ruckus.

Wes felt something rub up against his leg, and he looked down to see Sina purring at his knees. He smiled and stroked her under the chin, and she nuzzled into his touch before drifting off to sleep, her head resting on his leg.

"Phew, that was…" There was a pause in the surprisingly quiet voice that came from beside Wes. "Terrifying, to say the least."

Undeniably confused as to whether the voice was aimed at him or not, Wes turned towards the source of the voice. Sitting next to him on one of the bar stools was a man who looked around twenty. His spiky pink hair was gelled up, and from the looks of it hadn't been washed in a few weeks. The man wiped a bead of sweat off of his forehead and leaned his elbows on the counter, resting his chin on his palms.

"You were stuck in the middle of that?" Wes, deciding that it was aimed towards him, pointed his thumb over his shoulder to the scene behind him.

The man laughed. "Yeah, some people tend to get a bit overenthusiastic around here." He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it across his forehead, before pocketing it again. He looked completely exhausted, with bags under his bloodshot, sleep-deprived eyes.

"You look like you haven't slept in days," remarked Wes. "How long have you been here for?"

"Two weeks," answered the man. "I only get about two hours of sleep a night. There isn't really too much to sleep on around here." He sighed, rubbing his eyes with his palm. "Anyway, what brings you here?"

"I'm travelling," Wes lied. "I'm from Johto, but I decided to come here for a bit of a challenge."

Wes had made up this story and gone through it in his head on multiple occasions just in case someone had asked him a question like that. He knew it would happen eventually if he was hotel hopping, or if he was going to hold a causal conversation with anyone. He had a lot of lies as answers for small talk, and each one he'd practiced the scenario in his head over and over.

"Johto? That must have been nice." The man leaned back against the wall and rested his head on his hands. "You certainly fit in here, though." Laughing, he gestured to Wes' blue, tattered trench coat. "I would never have known you were from another region if you hadn't have told me. Strange choice to come here, though. But you look like you can handle it."

Wes shrugged, not at all nervous about the situation. Actually, talking in a conversation fuelled with lies was far more comfortable than talking to the soulless Snagem grunts he'd previously been stuck with. "I wanted a bit of a challenge." He ran his finger through the dust on the table, drawing meaningless lines on the scratched wood. "I changed my clothes to fit in." Wanting to test something (though the test itself was rather strange) he looked at his hands, then back up at the man and said, "Hey, what would you say if I told you that I blew up that building?"

"What, the Snagem hideout?"

Wes nodded.

The man laughed. "I'd say that's complete Tauros shit."

In saying that, a massive weight was lifted off of Wes' shoulders. Now seemed a good time to change the topic. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Willie," replied the man. At that point, the head of a Pokémon popped up from his lap, licking its lips and staring curiously at Wes, black-surrounded eyes blinking a few times. At this, Willie laughed and scratched the creature on the head with his index finger. "This is Zigzagoon."

"Zig!" yipped the Zigzagoon, wagging its bushy tail back and forth and ruffling its striped fur.

Wes couldn't help but smile, before replying with, "I'm Wes." He let the pokémon sniff his finger before he turned around and gestured to his own two Pokémon, who were watching the situation curiously. "This is Nova and Sina," he said as he gestured to the two respectively.

"Eeveelutions?" Willie suddenly looked intrigued, a grin playing at the corners of his mouth. "They're rare in Orre, or anywhere, for that matter!" He clicked his finger and pointed. "I'll bet you got them in Johto, right?"

"Uh, sure," muttered Wes uncertainly, having not rehearsed this situation in his head. It seemed perfectly legitimate, but he was silently praying that Willie wouldn't ask any further details.

Luckily for him, the conversation was temporarily cut off by the bartender emerging from the other side of the train, looking proud of himself. The remaining people in the room were watching him wearily. It wasn't long, however, before they turned back to their regular groups and engaged in conversation about the recent happenings at the Snagem hideout.

As he approached the bar once more, he let out a relieved sigh and flopped down on a stool next to Wes. He slicked his hair back with his massive hand as he began to speak, sounding considerably more tired than he previously had. "This place is alright, but sometimes I think it's best I don't let the electricity work for the television. Some folks get overexcited about those current events," he said. "I found this place when I was travelling a few years ago, made it my home. Apparently, other travellers had the same idea, so I decided to make it a rest stop for 'em." He took a swig of an anonymous, bubbling liquid from a mug that didn't seem nearly safe enough to drink. He turned to the Willie and smiled lightly.

Willie returned the expression a little more enthusiastically than the one given. "I'll take a ginger beer," he stated, almost as if he'd rehearsed what he was going to say.

Nodding, the bartender turned towards the shelves of bottles behind him and began to dig through them, searching for the right drink. As he did so, he spoke absentmindedly. "Ever since Willie got here, I've had some decent conversation. Most of the folks 'round here are alright, but you do get the occasional one that likes his drinks a little too much." After a few seconds of frustration, he pulled out a bottle of ginger beer and held it up in triumph. "Here yah go, kid."

Willie caught the bottle neatly and nodded curtly in thanks, instantly popping the lid off and taking a large sip, throwing the liquid down his throat. "Thanks, Baz."

In seeing Wes' confusion at the name, "Baz" laughed heartily and patted his shoulder a little too firmly. "Real name's Byron," he explained, flopping down on the stool behind the bar with a hefty sigh. "But people around here call be Baz. Well, anyone who actually bothers to stay long enough to learn my name, that is."

"Fair enough." Wes shrugged, placing his hands behind his head and twirling his chair around to face Nova and Sina. "I think we're going to get some rest."

Before anyone could question him, he stood up and began walking outside, quickly followed by his two, half-asleep Pokémon. "Don't think that's going to happen in here." He pointed a thumb to the gang of travellers who were taking up the majority of the seating. At the moment, it was a choice between sleeping outside or trying to sleep on a barstool, and outside seemed slightly more appealing.

A cold chill travelled down his spine when he stepped outside into the night. He hadn't realised how long he'd been inside the train, but it had been long enough for the sun to set entirely. The large, rusty vehicle that Wes had seen when he approached was still lying on the sand, though this time he swore he saw it moving slightly.

"Just the wind…" he muttered to himself, though the look Sina gave him from below told him that it was probably much more than that.

Still, there were enough weird people in Orre that it was likely that whatever was moving inside the vehicle was just a slab of food left long enough in the back of the truck to grow life on it.

Chuckling to himself, Wes sat down on the side of the train, leaning his back against the cold, rough metal. For a first night of freedom, it definitely wasn't the most comfortable place, but it was better than it could have been, he supposed. With Sina and Nova curled up beside him, he was relatively warm. Warm enough for his eyes to close quickly and for him to fall into a deeper sleep than he'd had in awhile.

-.-.-

"Ah, that was some good grub, eh, Folly?"

"I say, best food-" The second man gestured to the van absentmindedly with his right hand "-and best catch." The wink he gave would make anyone uneasy.

Wes peaked around the corner of the Outskirt Stand, watching the scene with overly curious eyes. The voices of the two men had woken him up, and he'd soon learnt that it was those two that were the owners of the rusty old hover car. They looked about as run down as anyone else in the Outskirt Stand did, one of them with a beanie hanging down over his head and the other with a strange spiked haircut that had the colours to resemble fire.

"Mmph!"

With the sound coming out of the truck, the spikey-haired one gave the side of the vehicle a harsh thump. "Quiet, you! You'll make a scene."

"Girl's got a mouth on her, that's for sure." Beanie-Head let out a chortle, though he shut up with a sharp glare from his companion. "Sorry, Folly."

Folly shook his head. "Come on, let's get out of here, Trudly."

With that, the two clambered into the vehicle and kicked on the engine. It took a few seconds for the car to start up, dangerous-looking puffs of smoke coughing out of the exhaust-pipe before the car quivered up into the air and took off, hovering just barely a few inches above the ground.

From the ramp coming out of the train, Willie emerged, scratching his head tiredly. He certainly looked exhausted, with bags under his eyes. "Thank Arceus for coffee," he muttered to himself, staring off at the car in the distance. "Well _that_ wasn't suspicious at all."

Frowning, Wes emerged from the side of the train where he'd been hiding, closely followed by Sina and Nova. If Willie wasn't so tired, he probably would have been shocked by his sudden appearance.

"You know them?" Wes asked curiously. He didn't like the sound of the grunt that came out of the car.

Willie nodded. "They're regulars here," he said. "Trudly and Folly. No one knows where they come from. They started coming here a few years ago, according to Baz. If they didn't come here so often, I would have assumed that sack in their car was a kidnapped girl or something." He chuckled at his own joke.

Wes grimaced. "You really need to sleep, mate," he said, sounding utterly unimpressed.

"Good idea." Willie yawned and turned around, dragging himself back into the train. "They're probably headed to Phenac City, just west of here, if you want to follow them. Though I was kidding about the kidnapping thing."

As he tripped back into the battered up train, Wes turned on his heel and looked down at Nova and Sina, who were now eagerly flicking their tails back and forth awaiting command. "Well, looks like we're headed to Phenac." At this, the two Pokémon nodded and trotted over to Wes' bike, hopping into the sidecar and taking their usual places. Wes did the same, only onto the bike itself.

Revving the engine, he kicked the bike into action and sped off through the desert, beginning his journey as a Team-Snagem blacklisted.

-.-.-

**For those of you who keep up with my antics (or stories, whatever) you'll know that I've been on… hiatus for a while. I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to keep this story going at all, but people keep telling me to. So I decided to compromise.**

**Pokémon Colosseum: Darkness of Orre was pretty tacky. I'm surprised it had any readers. So my compromise is to rewrite the whole thing. Since the old version was an experiment to see if I would like writing in first person or not, I figured it wasn't fair to anyone that I keep it going. But if you wanted it, then I may as well deliver it.**

**So, I think this is a good enough comeback after months of writer's block. Seriously, though, I've been useless.**

**For my personal followers, I'm sorry I've been off so long. I just didn't want to throw a shitty chapter out because I wanted to get it out quicker. Quality over quantity, right?**

**Hey, maybe I can make a comeback.**

**I guess the inspiration for this was that I didn't want Wes to be the good guy. He kind of just accidentally does everything, including becoming the protagonist. If it were up to him, he'd be the antagonist of this, but you'll see what I mean later.**

**I'd love to return to my old routine of updating one or two stories every Sunday, but I have year ten exams and a new job to work around, so I highly doubt that's going to happen. But I'll try my best. But please, don't beg me to update. Not to sound rude or anything, but I'll update when I want to. But since most of you wanted this story back, here it is. Better, in my opinion.**

**That's not to say I don't like your support. You're all lovely. :)**

**I sound so grumpy, I'm sorry. I'll be my happy-go-lucky self in the next chapter's notes, hopefully. Until then, thanks for reading, and stay tuned for chapter 2.**

**(And, yes, Pyrite Town now has an airport #dealwithit)**

**- Misaki -**


	2. Chapter 2

**Darkness of Orre**

**-.-.-**

**Chapter 2: What Rui Saw**

-.-.-

Phenac City was a breath of fresh air for Wes. He'd never been there before – Team Snagem usually targeted dirtier, rougher towns where the people they could snag from were generally overconfident. That, and they could fit in more without seeming overly out of place. Phenac, however, was usually highly watched. If something went wrong there, the entire region would likely know it within a few hours. Wes assumed this was due to the fact that this city was the only place in Orre with a proper mayor, one that was much more competent at keeping the law at hand than the tiny police forces in places such as Pyrite Town.

When he pulled into the city, he barely attracted attention at all, which was a first in awhile. Normally, he'd enter a city with multiple other Team Snagem members. Somehow, he felt better entering a clean city without having to worry about which people's lives he was going to tear apart this time. Even so, he avoided parking his bike on the pristine brick pavement that marked the boundaries of the city and instead stopped on the sand, kicking up a few grains onto the pavement.

"We're here," he said to Nova and Sina. The two of them hopped out of the sidecar and landed gracefully on the concrete, happy to be standing on solid ground rather than sand. Sina shook her fur, ruffling it up in places and pawing at the ground. Nova flicked his ear, but otherwise stayed relatively still, glaring ahead of him at something in the arched entrance of the city.

A beige-coloured brick wall surrounded the entire place. When Wes turned to look at what exactly Nova was staring at, he couldn't help but admire how intact the wall was compared to other places in Orre. Barely any of the bricks were chipped or stained with other colours, and with the sand and normally windy weather it was hard to keep bricks from being eroded.

Something else caught his attention after a few seconds. Inside the arch was the same hover car he'd seen at the outskirt stand, sitting stationary on the ground. It was no longer shaking; though Wes had a feeling whatever was shaking it previously was no longer in the back seat.

"What the Hell-?" He took a few steps forward, eyes on the scene before him.

He'd only known of the existence of Trudly and Folly for an hour or so, when he left the Outskirt Stand, but they were already annoying him more than anything he'd ever encountered in his life. They seemed to be struggling with carrying a sack in-between them, and Wes had a strange feeling that the sack was full of something that wasn't meant to be in there.

"Keep her steady, you idiot!" snapped Trudly, glaring at his companion with almost demonic eyes. "You'll drop her!"

Folly scoffed. "Well sorry," he grumbled, louder than he seemed to have meant to. When Trudly glared at him harder, he hesitantly adjusted his grip on the bag. "Well, it's not my fault. She's restless!" He kicked the sack with his knee, causing a harsh _thud_ and a squeak to escape out of it. "Shut up, you-"

"Why don't you shut up?" hissed Trudly, pressing a finger to his lips. "We don't want to attract attention."

Ultimately, Wes wasn't sure what to do in a scene like this. Whoever was in there, he'd finalised, was definitely human, but he wasn't one for saving people from getting kidnapped by thugs, especially when he often happened to be one of the thugs. "Idiots," he muttered through gritted teeth.

A painful ripping sound came from the bag, like paper being torn in half. Wes half expected it to be the sack. Instead, a series of coughs came from inside of it, and the wriggling of the sack became much more vigorous. Trudly and Folly glanced nervously at each other, then back down at the bag, before a series of still slightly muffled cries came from inside.

"Help! Someone! Kidnappers! I've been kidnapped!"

Trudly frowned. "Well, tape was a failure. Maybe we should have tied rope around her mouth."

"Are you kidding me?" snapped Folly, apparently disgusted by his cohort's suggestion. "We're trying to kidnap her, not suffocate her."

Wes slapped his forehead. _How much less subtle can you get? _"Oi, idiots! What's in the bag?"

Previously with his back facing to Wes, Trudly let go of the bag and whorled around. As he did so, the bag hit the ground with an uncomfortable _thud_, causing Sina to flinch lightly behind Wes. A quick shriek then came from the sack, though it went largely unnoticed in the series of events.

"Bag?" Trudly questioned defensively, hands behind his back and a large, sheepish grin spread across his face. "What bag? I see no bag?" His grin got wider as Wes grimaced, unimpressed by his efforts.

"Seriously, what's in the bag?" he asked again, more forceful this time.

Groaning, Folly dropped his end of the bag and kicked it aside, ignoring the grunt that came from inside of it. Almost too confidently, he pranced up to Wes with his head held all too high. For such a thug, he definitely had high self-confidence, in comparison to his companion, who was jumping lightly from foot-to-foot and fidgeting his fingers around behind his back.

"Well, you're pretty unlucky to have stumbled upon us." He strode towards Wes and stopped in front of him, a mere few inches from his face. Unfortunately for him, his eyes barely reached Wes' chin, and Wes would have expected this to affect his confidence slightly. Apparently not, as he didn't even take a step back when Nova stepped in front of his trainer, taking a protective stance with his teeth gritted and bared.

"Hold it, Nova, let them speak." Wes held a flat hand towards his Umbreon, who stepped back with a disappointed look on his face. Sina was still glaring, though she looked more unimpressed than aggressive. Still standing tall, Nova got in position to attack if needs be.

"You've seen too much, kid," said Folly through gritted teeth.

Wes grimaced. "Need I remind you that you're trying to intimidate a 'kid' who is a good few inches taller than you." He crossed his arms, staring down at Folly.

"S-shut up and battle me," he spluttered, a little taken-aback. From his pockets he pulled out two pokéballs, held between his fingers.

Wes rolled his eyes and stepped back. "Okay, Nova, _now _it's your turn," he said, and Nova excitedly leapt forward and growled at Folly under his breath. "You too, Sina."

The two Eeveelutions stood side-by-side ready to attack, tails pointed in the air and ears pinned back. Folly expanded the pokéballs in his hands and hurled them into the air, and the red light spilled out of them to reveal two…

Wes deadpanned. "Whismur, really?"

"I have better Pokémon!" insisted Folly. "Just… not with me."

"Actually," continued Wes, "Nova, you won't be needed."

Nova's face fell, and he shot one last glance at the two purple rabbit pokémon before he stepped back and sat behind Wes, ears now drooped in disappointment.

"Sina, make it quick," the ex-criminal ordered, "use Confusion."

Digging her paws into the ground, Sina shut her eyes as she readied the attack. Before Folly could react, the purple gem on her forehead started to glow, and when she opened her eyes again, they, too, were alight with a purple aura. She stared at the two Whismur, dead in the eyes, as a blue light outlined them. Soon, they were lifted into the air, much to the dismay of Folly.

"Throw them," said Wes simply. At his command, the two Whismur went flying towards the wall, controlled by a dramatic toss of the head from Sina.

The two hit the outer wall of the city with two surprisingly quiet _thuds_, and Sina stepped back once the attack was done, admiring her work with satisfaction.

"Well, you're one smug…" Folly paused as he looked Wes dead in the eye. Wes raised an eyebrow, but the man continued as he raised a finger at him. "Wait, you look familiar."

Wes' heart leapt. _How-? _The last thing he needed – or expected – was to be recognised by two people who looked like they got all of their belongings from less than legitimate sources.

"Hey, what's going on over here?"

Wes calmed down a little and instead focused on a yell coming from a woman who was running down a flight of stairs that lead up to the main part of the city. Trudly and Folly's eyes widened, and they glanced nervously at each.

"Drats," hissed Trudly. "So much for not attracting attention."

Before Wes knew it, the two were sprinting at full speed away from the scene, out of another exit to the city.

Frowning, Wes turned his attention to the woman who'd called out previously. She seemed to be having trouble running in the pink high-heels and tight skirt she wore, and was panting rather violently. Next to her was a boy who looked much more equipped for running, and was a few metres ahead of her by the time he stopped in front of Wes.

"Hey, why didn't you chase them?" he demanded, pointing a finger at Wes that almost touched his nose. His female companion skidded to a halt beside him, though she seemed more curious than angry.

"Don't be rude, Dash!" she snapped, glaring at him for a second. Dash lowered his arm awkwardly at the woman looked at Wes. "Who were they?"

Wes shrugged. "How am I to know?" He gestured to the sack, which was still squirming harshly. "They just looked suspicious, that's all."

"Oh, right…" Taking a few apprehensive steps toward the sack, Dash gave it a revolted look as he knelt down beside it. "Yuck, there's someone inside there." His fingers began to play at the knot tightly bound around the mouth of the sack, trying to figure out how to undo it. "They're bound tight, I can't open it."

"Nova." Wes shot a glance at his pokémon, who nodded knowingly and trotted calmly up to the bag. Dash retracted his hands quickly, looking a little anxious with Nova's teeth so close to his fingers. Giving the rope a few tentative sniffs, Nova promptly started gnawing on the knot. It took a few seconds for the rope to give in, but a few frustrated growls later and it was lying limp on the ground, completely shredded to pieces.

The mouth of the sack fell open, but the person inside remained still. They hadn't moved in awhile, probably suspicious of what was going on (or unconscious, but Wes liked to be a little more optimistic about the situation). Nova stepped away from it. Deciding no one else was going to do it, Wes pulled the person into a standing position and let the sack drop off of them.

Now, in front of his eyes, was a girl who looked only slightly younger than he was. For a person in Orre, her clothes were exceptionally clean, though her bright orange hair was done up in two scruffy pigtails atop of her head. She seemed completely dazed, eyes glassy and confused.

She shook her head vigorously after staring absentmindedly at Wes for a few seconds. "Oh, hi!" For someone who'd just been kidnapped and thrown into a sack, her voice was exceptionally cheery. The uncertainty on her face became evident, but she still seemed relieved. "Uh, who are you?"

"I could ask the same question," said Wes, raising an eyebrow at her. "How are you so happy?"

The girl laughed lightly. "Well, it's more relief, honestly. You saved me, right?" She paused. "Of course you did. I could see what was going on through the holes of the sack."

"Goodness gracious, are you okay?" gasped the lady in pink, breaking the awkwardness between Wes and the girl. She looked almost ill when she rushed up to her, gripping her tightly on the shoulders and causing her to sway uneasily. "You should sit down, you're-"

The girl wobbled a little on her feet, though her appearance showed no signs of passing out. Instead, she just looked completely baffled. "Uh, no, I think I'm fine. They only took me yesterday, as far as I know."

"And you've been lying in a sack since yesterday?" questioned Wes, crossing his arms. He shifted his weight to the side as he stared at her with one eyebrow raised. "That doesn't seem fine to me. You should at least get checked over."

The girl gave him a sheepish grin. "No, I'm fine."

In hearing this, Wes let out a large huff and turned around towards the direction of his bike. Behind him, Dash hesitated for a moment.

"Wait, where are you-?"

"I'm obviously not needed here," Wes interrupted. Sina hesitated, too, anxiously looking behind her as she reluctantly followed her trainer and Nova. "I have other places to be."

In reality, he didn't have another place to go, but he couldn't waste too much time in one spot. To his annoyance, he soon found the girl standing in front of him, a surprisingly stern look on her face and her hands on her hips. Despite only being fifteen or sixteen, her expression showed the look of a concerned mother.

"Now, hang on a second," she said, her tone much more serious than what Wes had previously heard, "I didn't even get your name." She held out a hand, now smiling softly. "I'm Rui."

Wes stared at her outstretched hand for a few moments, before looking back up at Rui with a completely blank look on his face. "Wes," he stated, still not pleased with his situation. _I should have just let her go,_ he thought to himself. _Someone would have noticed her in a city like this._

Seeing his reaction, Rui frowned and withdrew her hand awkwardly. "Well, thank you for saving me." She bowed formally, her hands now in her lap. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along." She paused. "Oh, by the way, did those thugs happen to use a… I don't know, peculiar pokémon?"

"Two Whismur," answered Wes. "Why?"

"Oh, it's nothing, just-" She shook her head. "No, nothing."

"Doesn't seem like nothing." He frowned, getting ready to dodge past her. _Seriously, why am I still here?_ So much for not attracting attention. At this rate half the town would be around him within seconds.

The woman in pink raised a finger in the air. "Ah, I know! You should go and see our mayor for advice. He's quite humble; I'm sure he'd give you some good tips on staying safe in the city, or at least put us on high alert for the time being. He might even alert the police force." She paused for a moment, coughing nervously. "Though I doubt that will do much."

Rui's eyes brightened. "Good idea! We'll keep you up to date with what happens."

Wes nodded. "Yeah. Wait, what?" he blurted out. "We? Who's we? I said nothing about-"

"Come on!" Rui laughed and stepped towards him. "You're not getting away from me that quickly. You rescued me, after all. Maybe the mayor'll give you something cool."

"No," he said firmly. "I don't need a reward. I need to leave _now._" Though he would never have admitted it, he was beginning to panic. The mayor may have heard of him before, with the watchful eye he kept on the city. The last thing he wanted was to be noticed by anyone of significant importance.

"Okay, then leave with me," chirruped Rui.

Wes grimaced. "You're not taking no for an answer, are you?"

She shook her head. "'Course not, come on!"

Reluctantly, Wes followed.

-.-.-

If he was going to lie low in any city, he was somewhat glad it was Phenac. There was a lot to distract from one dirty-looking person. Most people were already busy sitting by fountains or admiring the sculptures that were scattered in various places around the city. The trickling sounds of water were somewhat calming, though he was still paranoid. If his plans were to lie-low, this was a terrible start. He didn't want to be seen as the "good guy". He didn't really want to be seen as anything. But rescuing someone from being kidnapped was probably the worst thing that could have happened to the reputation he didn't want.

Rui skipped ahead of him, grinning at practically everything. Wes had to admit; for a girl who'd just been kidnapped, she was ridiculously happy-go-lucky. Occasionally she would stop and dip her hand in the water or to stoke Sina on the head, who had been walking beside the redhead for the entire walk, which, so far, had only been going for a few minutes. Sina was unbelievably protective, a side Wes had only seen towards himself before. Wes was somewhat glad; the less he had to do to protect the girl the better. Neither human had any clue where they were going, and not having to concentrate on anything but navigation (and keeping his head hanging low) was a plus.

"Where is the mayor's house, anyway?" Wes asked. At first, he'd planned on distracting Rui and making a break for it. But it became apparent that that wasn't going to work when Sina decided to stick close to the companion. He'd long since given up on that plan.

To his ultimate irritation, Rui shrugged. "No idea, actually."

He frowned. "Well then, how do we plan on finding it."

"Dunno, just wing it, I guess."

Nova glanced up at Wes. If there was ever a Pokémon incarnation of him, Nova would be it. They were both cynical, judgmental, and slightly pessimistic. Though Wes would never admit it, happy people tended to irritate the both of them. Sina had always been the balance to Nova; if she were human, she would have been calm, witty and confident. That explained her protective attitude towards Rui. Despite having grown up in criminal organisations, neither of the Pokémon were bad – just misguided from their trainer and his colleagues.

"I hope your entire life doesn't follow by that," said Wes disapprovingly.

Rui stopped walking and turned towards him, smiling lightly. "No, it doesn't. But it depends on the situation. And in this situation I say we just wander around until we find it."

Sighing, Wes shook his head. _I could leg it, _he thought, _I could just turn around and run. Sina would follow eventually._

In fact, he wasn't sure what was stopping him from doing just that.

It took the four of them a good ten minutes to find the mayor's house, which was surprising considering the small size of the city. Nova had been the one to point it out. His ears had pricked up and he'd barked towards it, his nose twitching as he pulled up the scent of whoever was inside. He looked somewhat suspicious, but Wes disregarded it as confusion.

The group stared at the door for a few moments, Rui ruffling her pigtails as she muttered to herself under her breath. "So, do we just go in?"

"I guess we ring the doorbell," said Wes, finally taking a few steps forward. Before he could do so, however, the door opened for him, and out stepped a man.

As soon as he appeared, what seemed like the entire city (at least, that which was in view) fell silent. The man was sinister; tall, muscular, with a stern face and silver hair that seemed to float around him with some sort of supernatural aura. What he gave off was cold, but the glares he sent didn't seem intentional. As he looked down at Wes, the ex-criminal concluded that the angry looks were simply the man's natural face. After all, someone with eyes that shade of purple couldn't possibly look kind.

"Sorry," the man said, almost in monotone. "Excuse me."

Wes stepped aside, in what he assumed would be seen as a gesture for the man to leave. The last thing he needed was more conversation. A few more moments of awkward silence ensued, after which the man turned to him and eyed him down, eyebrows planted down in a thoughtful expression.

"You're a travelling trainer, right?"

Wes sighed. _Far from it._ "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

The man nodded. "I assume I'll be seeing you again, then." He then turned to Rui, who flinched uncomfortably and stood up a little straighter. "And you."

Both her and Wes stared in awe as the man strode away, hands behind his back balled into fists, hair flipped stiffly behind his head, though his movements still seemed somehow free flowing. Even after he couldn't be seen anymore, Wes stared at the now-empty path he'd taken, as if the man would appear again as some sort of ghost or demon. But he didn't, and he and Rui soon disregarded the happenings entirely and turned back towards the mayor's office.

The door was still opened from the man's exit, though Wes wasn't sure whether ringing the bell would have been advised anyway. From what he'd seen (all of the doors in Phenac seemed similar to that of the mayor's house) the doors in the city were strangely automatic despite being made of stone. Instead of pondering on it any longer, he simply walked in, a stumbling Rui following cautiously behind him.

Inside, the mayor – or who was assumed to be – sat at his desk, one hand drumming the table with his fingertips and the other occupying itself with writing something down on a notebook. He didn't look up as soon as the unfamiliar visitors entered his home. Instead, it took him a few seconds. When he did look up, he instantly beamed. "Ah, visitors! Welcome, welcome. Come in, come in!"

Wes frowned. The man's voice was strangely flamboyant, almost to an annoying point. Though he supposed it was appropriate for such a baby-faced (and very round) man such as the mayor. He wondered how many hours doing nothing but sitting at a desk could have caused him to become so overweight, but that soon became a minor detail.

He stood up, stumbling a little over the desk chair he'd been sitting on, and waddled around the desk to greet the two from their own side. "My name is Es Cade, and I'm the Mayor of Phenac city." He held out a hand for Rui to shake, which she did. When he began to do the same for Wes, he grimaced and quickly pulled back at the dirty appearance of the teenager. Instead of making contact, he simply gave a small, awkward wave. "Is there something I would be able to assist you with?"

Wes glanced at Rui, who suddenly seemed nervous. Her hands were fidgeting around each other, and her head was down in an almost frightened way. _She's just been kidnapped and she's only now scared?_ he thought to himself.

"Well, funny story really," she mumbled, tripping over a few of her words. "Y'see, uh, how do I put this…"

Wes groaned, and this seemed to speed up her wording of things.

"I've just been kidnapped."

Expecting him to look shocked, Wes glanced quickly at Es Cade. To his surprise, the mayor only frowned, looking more concerned as oppose to anything more extreme.

"Well, that's not a very funny story," he remarked, stroking his chin with a chubby hand. "Why don't you explain?"

"Well, I guess… I saw it," continued Rui. "I guess 'it' is a peculiar Pokémon; one that would attack people."

This time, it was Wes who frowned. "All Pokémon will attack people if they're urged to by their trainers. What made this one so different?"

"Well, I guess, man I'm going to sound crazy." She took a breath, held it for a few seconds, then exhaled. "It was like this Pokémon had no emotion. And it carried a shadow with it, like black flames."

And at that moment, Wes knew exactly what the Pokémon was.

"It wasn't being instructed to attack people. It just seemed to do it on a whim. But the trainer didn't stop it. He just watched. I was walking through Pyrite at the time, but when I saw it, its trainer actually instructed it to attack me. So it did, and I woke up in a sack. I think I was in the back of a car." She gulped, turning to Wes. "I could hear those two goons from earlier outside, and I tried to yell but they'd taped my mouth shut. They drove me over here, and that was when you saved me."

"Oh, my, that really is an interesting story." Es Cade didn't seem as shocked as he could have, though he did seem somewhat worried. "And you were the young man that saved her?"

Wes nodded reluctantly. "Yeah."

"Well, firstly, I will applaud you for your heroism. But you, young lady… What is your name?"

"Rui."

"Well, Rui, I don't know how much of your story I can possibly believe. Surely you were attacked by a Pokémon, but maybe it was a mistake? And black, fire-like shadows? Now that just seems impossible." He laughed. "Perhaps you took a hit on the head from that Pokémon? Might have altered your memory a little, hm?"

Rui frowned. "No, that was definitely what happened. It's not foggy or anything, and it's too clear to forget."

"Stranger things have happened," interrupted Wes. "I think it's your job to take her word for it."

Es Cade grimaced. "And your name is…?"

"Wes," the teenager stated firmly. Before the mayor could open his mouth, he spoke again. "And as far as I know you're the closest thing this region has to a law enforcement. A competent one, anyway. You should do something."

"I would expect that you don't tell me how to do my job," said Es Cade calmly. "I will get someone on the job in due time. But it's a little hard to do that if I don't know exactly what I'm getting them to chase down." He turned and addressed Rui much more nicely than he had Wes. "Now, can you tell me what kind of Pokémon attacked you."

Rui placed a finger on her chin. "Well," she began, "it was short and chubby. A fighting-type, I think. And kind of a mustardy colour. I can't remember the name though."

"Well, I can't have pretty young ladies like you getting harmed in this region, but until there is a significant case, or something to chase after, I can't do much about it." He sighed heavily. "Look, I'm very sorry, but if you can find some evidence, or maybe even get a picture of who I'm meant to be chasing down, whether it be descriptive or physical, then I will start a case and get the police force on it immediately."

Rui smiled. "T-thank you, sir!"

Es Cade did the same. "No problem, young Rui. Please, come back if there are any more concerns. If you get attacked again I would like to hear of it." He looked to Wes. "Though something tells me that no one will be coming near you with this young man at your side."

Wes frowned.

Es Cade grimaced. "You _are _staying with her, right?"

The eyes on him became too much. Rui's were hopeful. The mayor's were expectant. He waited a moment, before sighing submissively. "Alright," he said, a slight growly tone to his voice. "But not for long. I have places to be."

Of course, that part was a lie.

-.-.-

"Alright, here's the deal," Wes said as he and Rui stepped out of the mayor's house. Rui gave him a questionable look, turning her confused face to the side and raising an eyebrow. "I'll stay with you for as long as it takes to figure out what Pokémon it was that attacked you. I need to know that, too, so it'll be helpful for me." He frowned. "Then you're on your own."

"So you'll help me?" Rui beamed, clapping and looking far too excited. "Thank you!" She fell silent for a moment. "But what if we don't find the Pokémon? Or track down the people that kidnapped me?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he said. "I'm going to count on finding them, though. I need to figure something out in this, too. For my own satisfaction." His version of satisfactions was figuring out whether or not she could distinguish shadow Pokémon from others. Though he doubted she was "just seeing things". It would have been a massive coincidence if she'd happened to see a weird shadow on the emotionless Pokémon.

Wes had seen Shadow Pokémon before, though he'd never used one. He didn't care much for humans, but, ironically, he refused to use a Pokémon that wasn't in its own mindset to attack other human beings. He largely preferred Nova and Sina when it came to battling. But if the Pokémon had no emotion, not even aggression, then it was quite likely it was a Shadow Pokémon. Though sometimes it was hard to be sure.

He sighed, making Rui jump. "Look, that Pokémon… If you could see a weird shadow on it, then there's definitely something wrong with it. Are you sure it didn't show any emotion when it was attacking you or other people. Not even aggression?"

"No," said Rui firmly. "It was blank. Completely blank. And each attack it used made the shadow grow bigger. But its face stayed the same."

"And you don't know the name of it?"

"Not at all."

Wes was sure they were tracking down a Shadow Pokémon.

-.-.-

**I may or may not have had this written in advance since like a day after I wrote chapter 1 and just not given a fudge to proofread it.**

**Yay if you haven't read my stories before you'll soon find out I'm lazy human garbage wooooh.**

**I feel like this chapter was a little dull but whatever. It kinda just followed the game plot haha. I'm actually going to be mixing up the events in the game for the first few chapters for the sake of my own entertainment and satisfaction.**

**So Rui is a thing now, and I'm making her a little different in terms of character from the games. I feel like she was kind of… I guess dull in the actual game? I don't know but I wanted to make her so she wasn't just the bland girl character that's kind of just there because she can see the auras and stuff.**

**So, uh, yeah? I guess that's all I need to say. How about a li'l behind the scenes before we go, eh?**

**This chapter was actually the restoration of about five months of completely horrid writer's block for me. I went on holidays and kind of just spilled this out, along with chapter three of this, too. If I can be bothered to proof read it, it'll be up anytime between five days and five weeks (let's see what happens).**

**I got the idea to rewrite this when I decided that Wes needed a little more character. The games are so mysterious, but I guess I wanted to portray him as someone who didn't really intend on doing anything good. Basically, he's an accidental protagonist that kind of accidentally saves the world. That may change, but that'll become apparent later on I suppose.**

**Confession: I actually have no idea how I'm going to write half of this in terms of all the Shadow Pokémon catching and stuff but that's another thing I guess will come to mind eventually.**

**I'm going to shut up now.**

**So I guess stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**(Insert pretty much mandatory "Drop me a review if you have time" bit here.) No but Srsly I like reviews thanks :3**

**-Misaki out-**


	3. Chapter 3

**Darkness of Orre**

**-.-.-**

**Chapter 3: In the Eyes of Rui**

**-.-.-**

It took a good half hour for Wes and Rui to figure out that they had absolutely no idea where to begin looking for Rui's attacker. They'd aimlessly wandered around the city in silence in the time it took, occasionally stopping to look at their own reflections in fountains. Neither of them really felt like talking, or so it would seem. Wes was walking far ahead of Rui, who was struggling to catch up. In doing this he'd made it pretty clear that the last thing he wanted was to hold a conversation with the girl.

Eventually, he'd stopped, and Rui was rushing so fast behind him that she only scarcely stopped herself running into him. She didn't question him when he stopped; instead, she simply stared for the moment. When she did try to speak, Wes mumbled a little louder, and she wasn't sure for a few seconds whether the speaking was directed at her or not.

"Where the hell are we going?" he questioned.

Eventually, Rui assumed it was directed at her and answered fairly normally. "I have no clue," she replied quietly, coming to realisation that the past half hour had been a complete waste.

Nova and Sina, who'd been walking at Wes' side, both glanced at each other with unimpressed faces. Both of them felt like nipping Wes on the ankle as punishment for his stupidity, but they managed to hold themselves back. Given the situation, and the fact that there were around a thousand things adding to their trainer's annoyance at that point, they decided against adding physical injury to the mix.

Wes rested his forehead in his palm. "Do you remember where Trudly and Folly went? You know, the ones that kidnapped you?"

"No, I was in the sack, remember?" Rui said. "But from what I saw through the holes they ran out of the city."

"Well, that's just great," he groaned, gritting his teeth in irritation. "If that's the case then we probably don't even want to be looking in Phenac. We're better off looking in more dangerous places."

"You have a point." Rui frowned, before cringing slightly. "Wait, more dangerous places? But won't we get hurt?"

"I thought I was your 'protection' or whatever. If that's the case, shouldn't you trust me to not let you get killed?" Wes said, beginning to turn back the way they'd come.

Rui hesitated for a moment. "Well, yeah, but…" She quickly leapt in front of him, shielding him from the path. "We haven't checked the Colosseum yet! They might be in there, you never know." A nervous laugh followed, causing Wes to groan and shake his head.

"Are you stalling?"

Rui grinned sheepishly. "A little."

To her surprise, he turned back around, beginning to walk the steps up towards the Colosseum. "Well, may as well get it over with. Come on."

Both of them were quite surprised he'd agreed with her.

-.-.-

Admittedly, there were really no negatives of going to the Colosseum other than wasting time. This was soon forgotten by Wes, who chose to marvel over the magnificence of the building rather than complain. The water, like the rest of the city, was perfectly blue against the creamy stone structure. The noise of the water trickling into the man-made streams that flowed around the edges of the reception room was extremely calming, and he automatically felt less irritated having heard it. With the setting, it took him a few moments of looking around in awe to remember what their actual objectives were. Though Rui wasn't complaining at all.

He soon came to realisation that, despite the beautiful scenery, the place served no use to either of them. The battle challenges had already started, and Wes wasn't waiting another three hours for the next one, and the place was completely devoid of any people except for the reception lady. Unless the person who'd attacked Rui was taking part in the battle challenge, which Wes found to be highly unlikely since they would probably not want to attract any attention to themselves, then they had best have not spent too much time there.

"Well, no one here," he said. Rui grimaced. "Let's go."

"B-but-"

"No buts," he snapped. "Let's _go."_

But as he dragged her out of the room as quickly (and, reluctantly, humanely) as possible, he suddenly wished he hadn't.

Making their way into the Colosseum with thuggish steps and even more thuggish expressions were three Team Snagem members. They looked almost identical, one of them walking slightly ahead (the tallest) with the two shorter ones following behind. All three of them slouched, as if they were carrying something ridiculously heavy on their backs, and they chortled amongst each other in menacing conversation that couldn't have held anything good.

The fact that they weren't particularly good people wasn't what Wes was worrying about, unlike Rui, who suddenly seemed nervous at their appearance. For Wes wasn't particularly a good person himself. What he was worrying about was them blabbing, and he figured, unless he could act ridiculously oblivious to the situation, that that was exactly what they were planning on doing.

"Arceus damn it," he mumbled.

The three stopped as soon as they laid eyes on him, confirming any suspicions that they had come to look for their "missing" member. He'd assumed this from the start; no members came to good-looking, richer cities of Orre if they were in their right minds. They attracted far too much attention. At the moment, attracting attention was the last thing on their minds. No doubt they had backup.

"Oi, Wes!" the one walking ahead growled. "What the hell, man?" His voice changed from anger to confusion in a matter of seconds, and he almost sounded offended in the second phrase that Wes had done what he'd done.

With his sudden disappearance, Wes assumed that the entire Team Snagem gang would know who'd blown up their hideout without needing Gonzap to tell them face-to-face. Part of him had expected no one to look for him; they'd just let him go and eventually forget about him. But he was a fool for thinking that. No doubt Gonzap would want to dish out the most severe and painful punishment imaginable – and Wes was rather sure it would involve his Skarmory.

Suddenly, it wasn't the Team Snagem members Wes was worrying about.

"W-Wes?" came Rui's confused voice from beside him. "Who are these people? How do they know your name?"

The two members at behind the first – who Wes recognised as a guy called Wakin – looked quite offended at this. He was sure Wakin did, too, but most of his face was covered up by oversized sunglasses that doubled as goggles for protective use during sandstorms.

"You don't know who we are, little lady?" said the second member, raising an almost-bald eyebrow. "How? Everyone in Orre trembles in fear of Team Snagem!"

"Uh, I'm not from Orre, so I wouldn't know," said Rui, her voice a mix of utter fear and confusion. "Who is Team Snagem?"

"We're the fear in the hearts of every Orre resident, haven't you heard?" snapped the third. "I thought the entire world knew of us by now. We're also the team your little friend over there happens to be a high-ranking member of."

"Used to be," corrected Wakin, "before he ran for the hills and stole our Snag Machine."

Through all of this, Wes was standing still as a statue, all except his fingers toying with a run-down button only just attached to his blue trench coat. His eyes scanned between Rui and the three Snagems, waiting for some sort of outburst to come from either of them. A deathly silence followed the conversation, in which everyone waited for him to say something. During this, Nova and Sina were standing on their toes, ready to attack if needs be.

He broke the silence with more nervousness in his voice than he'd ever had. "I don't have it," he said. "The Snag Machine, I mean. I dumped it out in the desert after I left. You'll have to go and find it yourselves." He tried to speak casually, but it was a struggle.

Surprisingly, the next person to speak wasn't a criminal. It was Rui.

"Wes," she whispered. Her eyes were wide, and she looked completely betrayed. Wes would have felt bad if he wasn't in the situation he was in. "Is it true? You're a member of… No, it can't be." She shook her head. "You've done nothing but good things since I met you. You saved me and agreed to help me."

"Shut up," Wes said firmly. Rui jumped back in shock as he sighed, running a hand through his sandy blond hair. "Seriously, just shut up." He turned back to the Snagems. "I have no association with you guys now. I'm done. I left for a reason and I'll stick with that." He growled. "Yeah, Rui, I used to be with them. _Used _to be. You can take it or leave it. Whatever. But you guys are not getting the machine back."

More silence. Rui looked like she was going to faint.

"I don't believe you," said Wakin. "You're not the most trustworthy guy, judging from the show you put on back there. You've got the Snagger. I know you do."

"What are you going to do, then?" retorted Wes. "It's not on my arm. I can't hide it anywhere."

"I'll fight you for it!" declared Wakin. "Winner takes all. No exceptions."

"Whatever." Wes looked down at Nova and Sina, who both nodded simultaneously. "I never cared for the thing much anyway. What do I have to lose?"

With that, his two Pokémon leapt forward, Nova baring his teeth and Sina lashing her tail through the air menacingly. Wakin pulled out his own two Pokéballs and tossed them in the air.

From the red light that spilled from the balls came two Pokémon: a Corphish and a Koffing, both looking quite aggressive and ready to fight. Wes sighed, shaking his head, hands in pockets. This was his usual self. He wasn't worrying about Rui anymore, just him and his Pokémon.

"Alright, Sina, you take the Koffing on. Nova, you've got Corphish."

The two Eeveelutions gave their respective cries before the battle leapt into action.

"Koffing, use Sludge! Corphish, use Bubblebeam!"

On one side of the platform outside the Colosseum were Nova and the Corphish. Nova already had a steady stream of colourful bubbles flying in his direction, provided by Corphish's open claws. Wes always wondered how such gentle-looking, fragile things could turn into objects similar to bullets when thrown from a Pokémon, but that wasn't what he pondered on this time. Instead, he focused on Nova.

"Nova, dodge, then use Bite!"

Like a black, streamlined shadow, Nova leapt gracefully out of the way of the bubbles, and Corphish stopped the attack instantly. Bounding off a wall and using this to propel himself, the Umbreon charged through the air towards his opponent, teeth bared menacingly and ready to strike the water-type. Oddly, the surprisingly fast Corphish was able to dodge, but Nova managed to land on the ground rather softly, without too many negative impacts to his own body.

"Secret Power!" commanded Wes confidently.

This was what Nova was good at. His specialty, as a Pokémon knowing such a move, was to use his surroundings to his advantage. It took more energy depending on what he was using, but this time, the thing that caught his eyes was one of the streams that surrounded them. He concentrated his mind on the water, and soon the rings on his body began to glow. As rapidly as the waterfalls flowed at the force of gravity, a heavy stream of elevated water shot itself right at the Corphish, whipping into the Pokémon's body and causing it to let out a high-pitched shriek.

Meanwhile, Sina was having no problem dealing with Koffing.

Actually, she seemed to be having quite a good time. Such a good time that Wes had given up worrying about her and was focusing on Nova and his slightly more challenging fight against Corphish. Sina was almost playing with her opponent, having fun throwing it across the room with numerous Confusions and chuckling amusedly to herself. Being a Psychic-type, she had all the advantage she could have needed against a Koffing, and because of that, she had nothing to worry about.

"Sina, for Arceus' sake!" called Wes, once Nova was completely done with the Corphish (it had only taken a couple of Bites and Secret Powers to get rid of it for good). "Stop playing and get on with it."

Sina sighed submissively and promptly threw Koffing against the wall, ending both her attack and the battle itself. As the Poison-type slid down the wall, groaning as it did, Wakin recalled it and turned to Wes, glaring irritably.

"Damn it, you've really gone and done it now," he growled. "Don't think you're getting away this easily, though. You'll have the whole organisation against you and your little friend-" He shot a quick glare at Rui. "-as soon as I get this news back to Gonzap."

With that, he and his two sidekicks strode away, leaving Wes in an extremely awkward silence between him and Rui.

Eventually, after seconds filled with only the running of water to take up the space in his brain, he turned around to face her. She looked horrified, staring at him as though he was a criminal. He was, he supposed, but it wasn't like he particularly wanted to stay that way. He'd never wanted to be good, but the criminal reputation wasn't something he planned on keeping. Really, he simply wanted to exist, neither good nor bad. But that was a little deep to be explaining to his companion right now.

"You're-"

"Yes," he said, sighing, "I'm a former Team Snagem member. As of very recently, actually. Key word there is 'former'." He frowned, almost ashamed. Not of who he was, but of what Rui knew of him. "Can we drop it?" This time, he was angrier. "I never wanted to get caught up in any of this in the first place. I'm already on the run. So you can take it or leave it, whatever."

To his shock, a sob escaped her throat. "No, I can't… You're a criminal!" Her voice rose to a furious scream. "You're a criminal and you rescued me! Why? What do you care? What the _hell_ do you care? I don't even know who Team Snagem are and I already know they're a bad bunch, and you were part of them! I just… I can't." With that, she stormed past him, knocking him with her shoulder and causing him to stumble backwards.

"Rui-"

When she reached the top of the stairs, she turned to him and bowed. "Thank you for your assistance, but I'll be making it on my own now, thanks."

Wes could only stare as she stormed down the stairs.

-.-.-

"Arceus."

He threw a stone into the water.

"_Fucking."_

He threw another stone into the water, more furiously this time.

"Damn it!"

As he went to throw the third stone in, Sina stopped him with a quick Confusion, catching the stone in mid-air and placing back down on the neatly arranged water feature Wes had gotten it from in the first place.

He couldn't believe it. One day. He'd been away for _one _day and he'd already let someone down. Not purposely, of course. If he'd had it his way, he wouldn't have met her in the first place. But she was probably his chance at figuring out – or getting on the road to figuring out – where this Shadow Pokémon plan was going. Destroying Team Snagem and their allies was his new goal. As an act of revenge, he wanted them gone.

He'd found a girl who could supposedly distinguish the Shadows from the normal Pokémon, and he'd let her slip away, just like that.

"I'll be making it on my own, _thanks,"_ he spat in a mocking, high-pitched tone that was apparently meant to be imitating Rui. As he reached for another stone, Nova swatted him away with his tail. He opted to ignore this and continue the nonsensical rant to himself. "We all know she can't make it on her own. She's been kidnapped for Arceus' sake. They'll all know who she is within a day."

Part of him was thinking he should give chase, but what was the use? She was probably gone by now, caught a bus to another town or something. No doubt she wasn't kidnapped in Phenac City. And if she was in one of the more roughed-up towns when she'd been attacked, she was definitely heading somewhere else. A groan escaped his mouth as he flopped down onto the floor.

He had no doubt in his mind that she would not be a free-roaming girl for much longer if he didn't find her. And that wouldn't be Team Snagem's doing.

No, it would be the doing of something much worse. Something that came in troops, which suddenly began piling into the city, one by one, in a single-filed line.

"What the-?" Wes stood up, gaping in awe, as three men dressed in strange costumes, one of red, one of blue, and one of green, came marching into the city and blocked each entrance.

Quickly, Wes ducked, knowing perfectly well all three of them were seeking to find either him or the girl that could see the auras. If they were lucky, they'd come out with both.

"Bloody hell, Rui," he whispered. He had to find her now.

Among the troops, Wes saw, was an interesting sight. Trudly and Folly seemed to be back, this time lead by a man. An extremely tall man, though this was definitely emphasized by his giant, pokéball-coloured afro and high-heels. His looks were obviously misleading; he looked way too funky to be even the slightest bit evil.

"Boys!" he said, with far too much attitude. His flamboyant voice and movements would have made Wes laugh if it were not for the situation. "We're headed to the mayor's house. Follow me." He turned to the green-suited man, who saluted stiffly. "You three-" He gestured to the other two gates, where blue-suit and red-suit were standing. "-are to guard the exits. No one gets in and no one gets out. Pull out your Shadow Pokémon if necessary."

"Yes, Miror B.," said the guards simultaneously, nodding firmly.

So-called Miror B. grinned somewhat maliciously, before turning around and walking (dancing) away. Trudly and Folly hastily followed, looking much more nervous than they had during Rui's kidnapping.

If it weren't for the strange, motorcycle-helmeted, colour-suited guys, Wes would have questioned whether or not these people were actual criminals or just three crazy – possibly drunk – men trying to cause some mischief in a town. That, and they had Shadow Pokémon, and those suits were far too high-tech to be worn by members of Snagem.

"So they have Shadow Pokémon…" muttered Wes. He glanced at Nova and Sina, who nodded in understanding. They could tell his plan from his expression. "We'll get the Snag Machine and get those Shadow Pokémon back."

"Ep!" yipped Sina. Wes followed her gaze towards the gate that he'd parked his bike outside.

"Right…" he muttered. The gate was blocked by the red-suited man, who now had a Quilava standing beside him. "This might be a bit trickier than expected."

-.-.-

After pondering over what on earth would be the best plan of action, Wes decided that heading to the Mayor's house was probably the best idea. Troops were now roaming the city, glaring at any confused residents as they muttered to their friends. Whether or not they planned on doing anything about the presence was irrelevant; to the gang members, anyone in the city not part of their team was an enemy. He could only assume that the mayor's house was a good place for the troops to begin their raid (or whatever they were trying to do). If they killed the enemy from the source, they'd get what they wanted. At the moment, the source of hope for the city was Es Cade.

However, getting to the mayor's house wasn't going to be as easy as expected. To get through, at least one of the coloured trio would have to be wiped out, and, after mulling over it for a bit, Wes opted for the blue one.

The guard noticed him without much trouble. After all, Wes was definitely the most distinguishable among the city's inhabitants. With his dirty clothes and determined, somewhat suspicious expression, it was a wonder he hadn't been noticed sooner.

"Oi, you're that guy!" yelled the blue-clad guard. Pretending to be shocked that he'd been caught, Wes jumped up from his sneaking acted as surprised as he possibly could. Of course, "surprised" was not his general forte, and it didn't really come off as convincing at all.

"Oh, no," he drawled sarcastically. "You got me."

The guard grimaced. "If you're trying to get out, that won't be happening, buddy. You're coming with us to see the boss, y'hear?"

"I hear," said Wes. "But good luck actually following through with that. I didn't plan on leaving, whether that be out of this city or with you to wherever your boss is. You'll have to knock me out before I go with you."

"That can be arranged." The guard grinned as he tossed a pokéball into the air, revealing a sickeningly expressionless Croconaw.

Wes grinned. "Bingo. Sina, you're up!" he called, and before he knew it, his Espeon had leapt in front of him, aggressively stood and ready to fight. It was quite abnormal for her to growl, but as she stood, having a good pre-battle stare down with her opponent, a series of low rumbles came out from her throat.

"Croconaw, make it quick." The man smirked maliciously. "Use Shadow Blitz!"

Wes knew Shadow Blitz as an interesting move. It looked, to normal people, like a regular Take Down attack. But it was much worse than that. When a Pokémon used a "Shadow Move", as they were known as, they mustered up all pent-up anger in their systems and released it. It was, as far as Wes knew, the only time when the Pokémon felt real emotion, despite not showing it in the open. At least the use of the move proved that Croconaw was, in fact, a Shadow Pokémon.

The Croconaw kicked off the ground, eyes suddenly squinted as it let out a roar of aggression. Despite not being part of the battle directly, Wes was a little scared by it. Luckily Sina didn't seem fazed at all. She just stood, ears pinned back, claws sharpened and dug into the ground as she awaited her trainer's command.

Hastily, as the Croconaw got closer and closer, teeth gritted and protruding from its lips, he called the command. "Sina, hold it back with Confusion!"

Sina nodded, and at that second her eyes began to glow with blue light. A ripple of psychic energy pounded through the air, almost like shock waves. The disturbances in the atmosphere settled themselves around Croconaw and the blue light from the attack encased it, and for a few seconds the Water-type struggled against the energy.

After those few seconds, though, the Shadow-Pokémon, still in the aggression and power of its mid-attack state, broke free of the case of the energy with a mighty roar and continued its shoulder-first attack towards Sina, who took the first blow of the battle straight in the abdomen.

Painfully, the Psychic-type gasped and stumbled backwards, winded from the area of the blow. Wes cringed at his own Pokémon's pain. She landed on her side, skidding across the pavement for a few metres before she forced herself up again, shaking her body down and panting lightly. In typical Sina fashion, she still seemed fine to fight. Wes knew this battle was a matter of pride for herself. If she lost, it would not only be fatal, but also an embarrassment.

"Sina, keep it up. Use Return!" It had recently occurred to Wes that this battle would be physical-on-physical or not at all, and though fighting with sheer force was less than Sina's strong point, he still relied on the Return with confidence. If he and Sina had as good as a connection as he thought they did, the attack should have dealt out heavy damage.

And that's exactly what it did. As the Espeon sped towards her opponent, using her slim, agile body as a make up factor for her lack of physical power, Croconaw was still regaining from its previous attack. _Shadow moves must take a lot of energy,_ thought Wes, his eyes now planted upon the somewhat crippled Shadow Pokémon. He felt almost sorry for it, but knowing that the opponent didn't care for his feelings held him back from feeling like so.

This time, it was Sina who slammed headfirst into Croconaw, knocking it backwards and causing him to land on the ground in a stumbling heap. It didn't make a sound, however. Showing pain was a no-no in the Shadow Pokémon world. Wes wasn't even sure if they felt pain, but the cringes this Pokémon was showing hinted that it was holding something back.

And, as the rather evenly matched battle ensued, it became a matter of Sina's speed versus Croconaw's strength.

Luckily for both Wes and the entire city of Phenac, Sina's speed ended up with the victory.

As the Croconaw lay, panting on the ground, it had tried to get itself up again multiple times. The blue-suited guy, who was egging him on angrily from the sidelines, probably didn't help at all. Wes only watched with an exhausted Sina at his side, almost pitiful for the opponent.

"Arceus damn it!" growled the guard. "Are you kidding me? The boss told us Shadow Pokémon were superior to any. And what the hell is this?"

"You don't use it well," said Wes calmly, stroking Sina on the head. "You're strategy is pitiful."

"Well," snapped the guard stubbornly, "you're still not getting past this gate."

As Wes strode away, he looked over his shoulder and smirked. "That wasn't my plan in the first place."

Although it would have been good. As long as the gates were blocked, Wes couldn't get in or out of the city. His bike was on the other side of the city walls, as was the Snag Machine he'd been so cleverly hiding (if "cleverly hiding" counts as wrapping it in a jacket and putting it at the bottom of the sidecar). If they decided to raid his bike, he was not in good form.

"To the mayor's house," he said quietly, still trying to keep his head down in the guard-overrun city.

But it soon became apparent that the mayor's house was not the thing on the top of his list.

It took him a few moments to convince himself that Rui's safety was far at the top of his list. When he first saw her being wrangled out by the red-suited guy at the other side of the city, he'd brushed it aside as something he'd deal with later. Eventually, after a few more steps, he decided that doing that was stupid. Rui was _not, _under his protection, going to become some sort of science experiment.

-.-.-

She'd only been in Orre for a day and she'd already been kidnapped twice.

Through both of those kidnappings, no one did anything to help.

This time, though, it wasn't out of pure horribleness, but out of fear. Anyone in the town who wasn't one of these strange people was completely terrified. Whether it be of the motorbike-helmeted guards or that strange, afro-headed man who'd danced into the town, she wasn't sure. But the citizens of Phenac City were terrified of something.

_Why the _hell _did I leave Wes's side, anyway?_ The thought burned through her head on multiple occasions. Oh, right, it was because he was a lying, scheming, screwed-in-the-head _criminal._

…But no matter how much she tried to convince herself of that, he really had never done anything bad to her. Actually, he'd only done good. He'd saved her from a kidnapping, guided her around town, and protected her from attack from "Team Snagem" – whoever they were – and she wasn't particularly scared of him.

So why did she feel so betrayed if he'd never given her a reason to feel that way?

These were the thoughts that went through Rui's head as she struggled under the choking headlock of the guards. She wasn't really doing much struggling, actually, just the occasional kick or scream or dirty insult that she would never normally use.

She was being held by one of the few white-suited men in the city. Really, there weren't many guards at all, but they certainly got around. In front of her, the green-suited and red-suited gate guards conversed in hushed whispers that she had to strain her ears to hear even a few words of. She couldn't lean forward with a man's arm held around her neck, but she could strain her ears. No one else in the city was speaking except for those two, and the only thing disturbing their conversation was the trickling of the water.

"What do yah think, Verde. Do we bring 'er back to the boss?" asked the red-suited man.

"Not sure, Rosso. I guess we just wait and see what Miror B. says when he gets back," replied so-called "Verde".

From what she'd heard so far, Miror B. was the afro-headed guy, and according to the recent murmurs or the guards, he was quite the terrifying man despite the deceiving looks.

While the two were in conversation, Rui decided this would be a good time to do some vigorous struggling.

"For-" Kick. "-Arceus-" Punch. "-sake!" Attempted head-butt. "Let go of me you ass- ack!"

She was quickly cut off by a pull of one of her pigtails. Verde and Rosso turned towards her, scowling beneath the helmets that shielded their face.

"Shut up, girl, or I'll have to set Quilava on you," spat Rosso.

Rui gulped. Normally, the threat of setting a Pokémon on someone wouldn't have been that bad. But the fact that she had no Pokémon to defend herself with and the fact that the Quilava was yet another Pokémon with a strange black aura surrounding it made the situation all the more terrifying.

But this didn't stop her. _I'd rather die than go with these thugs._ So she threw another kick, this time whacking her heal into one of her captor's shins. When Rosso stepped forward, her mind shifted from positive to negative. The Quilava stared at her with beady, blank eyes, and the fire on its back began to burn into quills of heated flames. The aura around it grew to a deeper shade of black, if that was even possible, and Rui grew more and more terrified.

"I didn't want to have to do this, girl," said Rosso, "but I'm going to have to get Quilava here to knock some sense into yah."

From Quilava's back, the flames erupted more dangerously, mixing with the black aura to create a purplish tinge. Rui flinched; this was going to be painful, it might even knock her unconscious. She wouldn't have been surprised if that was there plan; an unconscious girl would have been easier to deal with than a struggling, conscious one.

"Give 'er a Shadow Rush!"

As the Pokémon's aura grew darker, taking on more or a red tinge this time, Rui's eyes widened in horror. Fear spread throughout her veins, more than she'd ever felt in her entire life. She hated it. She wanted it gone. All she wanted to do in Orre was to visit her grandparents and now she was about to become some sort of scientific experiment.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as the Quilava ran closer and closer to her cringing body. She flinched, ready to take the attack. There was nothing she could actually do, so she may as well have tried to lessen the pain.

"Rui!"

The cry was somewhat familiar. It was a boy's voice, one she'd heard merely an hour or so ago.

Just as the Quilava was about to crash into her, a black and yellow blur shot in front of her eyes, knocking the Shadow Pokémon away with an aggressive tackle. Quilava tumbled to the floor, skidding across the pavement with a painful thud.

Next to it, a few metres away, was Nova, loud, angry growls rumbling from the back of his throat. On the other side of him was Wes, panting as if he'd just been running faster than he ever had. Knowing the situation, he probably had been. Like his Pokémon, he looked furious. His hazel eyes were blazing with rage and hints of hate. Rui couldn't help but smile; she was safe. In a battle like this, Wes wasn't going to lose.

"Secret Power, Nova!"

As the rings on Nova's body began to light up, Rosso looked around, horrified and confused. "What the hell?" he exclaimed. "Who are you? Why-?" He let out a yelp as his Pokémon was slammed with the water that was a result of Nova's Secret Power.

Quilava tumbled backwards, falling into the sandstone walls that encased the city. It hadn't even got a single hit in and it was already panting like crazy. While it was distracted with trying to get back onto its feet, Nova bounded off the ground towards Rui and her captors, and before he could even launch the Bite attack, the guards had let go of Rui and had already leapt back.

"Fight it, you fool!" growled Rosso to Quilava, and the Fire-type got back up instantly. "Shadow Rush! Now!"

"Look out!" yelled Rui, but Nova was hit head-on with the attack.

With each attack from either side, the aura around Quilava seemed to grow stronger, but this didn't particularly seem like a good thing in its case. The aura seemed to be painful, and it would randomly cringe from time-to-time as it panted its way through the battle.

Nova tumbled back, but he landed on his feet, skidding back a few inches and baring his teeth once more. When Wes called for one more Bite, the battle was over.

"Let's go," said Wes, and before Rui could even say anything, he'd grabbed her wrist and the two were running at full speed through the city, Nova following behind them. They didn't pay attention to Rosso's yells. They just kept running.

-.-.-

The Pokémon Center was somewhat of a safe haven for the two teenagers. As soon as they entered, Wes flopped down on a beanbag at the back of the room, panting heavily and even coughing occasionally. In her cautious fear, Rui remained standing, glancing around in paranoia of what could possibly happen to her.

It wasn't just the two of them in the center. In fact, it seemed like half the city had retreated there during the attack, probably the ones who were unable to retreat to their houses. None looked as angry as Wes, though. No emotion could compare to the look on his face, which rotated between anger and shame, sometimes jumbled into a weird mix.

After a somewhat relieved silence, he looked up at Rui. The outburst to come was unlike the redhead had ever experienced before.

"Why the _hell _did you leave my side?" he yelled, tempted to stand up, but his emotions made his legs weak. "Don't you know how stupid that was? It's like you _want _to become some sort of research experiment for them! Do you know how dangerous they are?"

Rui gritted her teeth. "Oh, like you can talk! You were part of Team-"

"I don't _care_ about Team Snagem anymore. They are nothing compared to them!" He took a breath, noticing that the entire center was staring at him. Not wanting to cause too much ruckus, or give anything away, he stood up and walked over to Rui, staring at her dead in the eyes. "Team Snagem are a bunch of phony criminals. No one there is evil. Just bad. But these guys, they are terrible. And they _will _lock you up. Besides, I'm not a member of Team Snagem anymore."

"But-" Rui's voice was weak and fragile, so much so that she couldn't get past the first word of her sentence.

Wes's voice had quieted now to a dull murmur. He looked almost tired, or sick. His skin was pale from the yelling and his eyes were much less fiery than they have been. "Whether or not my past is screwed up is irrelevant. These people are chasing both of us down, and we may as well stick together, at least while they're in the city. Once they leave, you can go on your own way. I don't care, but the last thing I want is for Cipher to get what they want."

Silence followed for a few moments, before Rui raised a brow. "Cipher?"

"That's the organisation. They're much worse than the Snagems. And I can't stand them." Wes took another breath, exhaling a little softer this time. "They're ridiculously highly-ranked criminals. Scientifically, I mean. I don't know much more about them other than they're pure, complete _evil."_

Surprisingly, Rui smiled, this time the fire was in her eyes. "Well, we take them down then, right?"

Wes frowned, his anger disappearing, completely replaced by confusion. "Excuse me?"

"You have that Snag Machine thing, don't you?" she questioned. Wes nodded. "I was listening to Rosso and Verde; they said something about what it does. It can steal Pokémon from other trainers, apparently."

"If I have pokéballs," said Wes. "Which… I think I do. But where are you going with this?"

"If two of the colour-guys had Shadow Pokémon, then I would assume the third one does. So, we could use the Snag Machine and…"

"Wait, are you suggesting we take their Shadow Pokémon?" Wes was somewhat impressed with her slightly-on-the-bad-side plan.

Rui grinned devilishly. "That's exactly what I'm thinking."

-.-.-

**Poor Rui. She doesn't really have the best of luck when it comes to being kidnapped.**

**So it always confused me that, in the games, Wes never seems to know about Cipher until reading some folder thing. This always baffled me since he's not really gone from Snagem all that long before the end of the game and therefore, if there's another gang in town, you'd think he'd know about them. I don't know, but I have a backstory to go with that which will come in due time. I'm not going to give anything away right now.**

**It also confused me how, in the games, Rui was like, "Wes! You're an ex-criminal? Well okay lol prince charming let's go save the world together yay" after she found out he was a member of Team Snagem (kay maybe not exactly like what but whatever). So I changed it up a bit so she at least put some consideration into whether or not he was innocent. Regardless she's gotta be in the story so for now she's just going to trust him.**

**These have definitely been the most action-packed first few chapters of any story I've written on here. Not that I'm complaining. I love a few good battle scenes early on. Really gets things started, you know.**

**And, hey, look; this chapter didn't come four months after the last one. I'll congratulate myself for that, hahaha.**

**Seriously, though, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, especially at the end because I get to write Rui actually planning something cool and not just standing there and pointing out Shadow Pokémon. And I normally don't like writing battle scenes, but when they start with Nova jumping epically in from the side and slamming a Quilava, I have to say I don't mind.**

**Thank you readers, favouriters, followers, and reviewers, you're all really cool. I'll get to work on the next chapter ASAP, but until then, stay tuned!**

**-Misaki**


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